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By Jillian Snyder
Are ‘millennials’ a generation of
narcissists? An overemphasis on self-esteem has led to a tendency toward
self-absorption in some. Coupled with technology which allows people to
project fantasy versions of themselves, are we enmeshed in an illusory
world of our own making?
When my family and I first found our way onto the
worldwide web in 1995, the world was still a bit shocked by this new
connectivity.
For the first time, total strangers could meet online
and share their lives with others. This was demonstrated by the quick rise
of chat rooms, where one could discuss just about anything. I might have
fibbed about my age a few times; I did not quickly realize the ability to
assume another personality behind the glow of the computer monitor.
Culture of anonymity
Now, more than a decade later, the internet –
paved by a culture of anonymity, and the popularity of social networking
sites (Facebook, Myspace, etc.) – has us discussing just about
anything.
‘Rate My Professors’ has students dishing
out the good, the bad and the ugly on their profs. ‘Group Hug,’
another anonymous website, allows people to post online confessions –
which rise or fall in popularity, based on readers pressing a
‘hug’ or ‘shrug’ button.
Liberated by anonymity, internet users have created a
virtual sphere of radical self-expression. Slander, confessions of secrets
and personal sexual uploading are no longer unusual.
When it comes to non-anonymous postings, most social
network users are highly selective when portraying themselves. It’s
simple to upload huge amounts of information, while retaining one’s
privacy on the other side of the computer screen.
Christie Pederson, a fourth-year education major at
Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C., doesn’t list items
such as her political and religion affiliations on Facebook –
because, she says, “I don’t feel that they can be described in
one word like ‘Christian’ or ‘conservative.’ I
don’t like putting my beliefs in a box, because I don’t think
they fit in one.”
The same approach applies to pictures. A little work
with Photoshop can easily ‘enhance’ images. This ease of
selective sharing dovetails with our generation’s ‘we’re
special’ mantra.
Narcissism
In her insightful book, Generation
Me, Jean M. Twenge examines data from
elementary school students to young adults (born between the 1970s and the
early 2000s) to compile what she considers the traits of an overly
narcissistic generation.
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Twenge believes the relentless emphasis on self-esteem
in education throughout the 1980s and 1990s (articles on self-esteem
increased 52 percent in the 1990s, compared with a decade prior) has
significantly contributed to the arrival of a generation with one person in
mind: themselves.
She writes, “Generation Me is the first
generation raised to believe that everyone should have high
self-esteem.”
However, Twenge asserts that much of the material
pushing self-esteem is “usually promoting feelings that are actually
a lot closer to narcissism” – a trait she defines as more
closely associated with “excessive self-importance.”
For example, Twenge points out that only 12 percent of
14 – 16 year olds in the 1950s agreed with the
statement, “I am an important person.” In contrast, the same
study in the 1980s yielded an 80 percent agreement.
In addition, university students who took the
Narcissistic Personality Inventory in 2006 were noted to be 65 percent more
narcissistic than results for 1987.
Sharing ourselves
Couple this penchant for self-importance with the
advent of a technological world which allows people to effectively hide
behind a computer screen, and the implications of unsolicited amounts of
information floating across the virtual realm become painfully clear.
With the erroneous belief that we are going to be
– or are already – people of high importance, it is
logical that our presence should be known in some realm or another. Gazing
with utmost adoration at our perfectly captured (edited) profile photo
– or, in my case, breaking my digital camera trying to take one
– we present an image of ourselves frankly inconsistent with our own
faultiness and temporality.
Instead, we become like Frank Baum’s infamous
Wizard of Oz, who appears in the world of fantasy as a great and powerful
personage – but, dwelling behind that curtain in the Emerald City, he
turns out to be nothing more than a pithy talking head.
Known by . . . ?
The unrestricted access to technology, along with the
endless ‘you are special’ mantra many of today’s students
have been imbued with throughout their childhood years, have had a similar
effect.
We are the all-powerful Oz hiding behind the virtual
curtain – and perhaps we are all the more lonely because of it.
Jillian Snyder is a student at Trinity Western
University, in B.C. and is also managing editor of ‘Mars Hill’
an awarding winning student magazine for TWU.
Options Fall 2008
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